Liquid recycling kit

ABSTRACT

A liquid recycling kit for hair treatment is provided. The liquid recycling kit includes a liquid guiding device to be worn on one head and a liquid collecting device detachably coupled to the liquid guiding device. The liquid guiding device includes an inner wall and an outer wall collectively defining a guiding channel. The liquid guiding device receives a hair treatment liquid dripping from the head and guides the received hair treatment liquid to at least one rear outlet of the liquid guiding device by gravity along the guiding channel. The liquid collecting device includes a container wall defining a collecting space located under the rear outlet of the liquid guiding device. The collecting space receives the guided hair treatment liquid flowing out from the rear outlet of the liquid guiding device for recycling the hair treatment liquid.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a nonprovisional application claiming benefitfrom a prior-filed provisional application bearing a Ser. No. 62/847,471and filed May 14, 2019, the entity of which is incorporated herein forreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a hair treatment auxiliary, and moreparticularly to a liquid recycling kit for hair treatment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Perm is a usual method of styling the hair in which the curliness of thehair could be changed as desired. The hair is treated with chemicalssuch as a hair perm liquid to break and reform bonds of the hair to setthe shape of the hair. When the hair perm liquid is applied to the hairwrapped on rollers, a cotton strip is put near or around the hair lineto absorb extra solution to prevent it dripping down or flowing over theface, skin or clothes to cause irritation or damage. Once the cottonstrip is locally saturated with the hair perm liquid, it needs to bereplaced. It is usually required to replace the cotton strip severaltimes depending on the usage amount of the hair perm liquid. Anotherproblem is that the liquid would flow down through the gap if the cottonstrip does not provide perfect sealing around the hair line. A Furtherproblem is that the hair perm liquid on the cotton strip still touchesthe skin to cause irritation or discomfort. Therefore, it isinconvenient and unfavorable to use the cotton strip to absorb thedripped hair perm liquid. Furthermore, the absorbed hair perm liquid cannot be reused and is washed out, and it wastes a great amount of thehair perm liquid. The same problems occur during other hair treatmentsuch as hair dyeing or hair bleaching

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a liquid recycling kit forhair treatment. The liquid recycling kit includes a liquid guidingdevice to be worn on one head and a liquid collecting device detachablycoupled to the liquid guiding device. The liquid guiding device includesan inner wall and an outer wall collectively defining a guiding channel.The liquid guiding device receives a hair treatment liquid dripping fromthe head and guides the received hair treatment liquid to at least onerear outlet of the liquid guiding device by gravity along the guidingchannel. The liquid collecting device includes a container wall defininga collecting space located under the rear outlet of the liquid guidingdevice. The collecting space receives the guided hair treatment liquidflowing out from the rear outlet of the liquid guiding device forrecycling the hair treatment liquid.

In an embodiment, the liquid guiding device is made of silicone,polyvinyl chloride or a combination thereof, and the inner wall is intight contact with and closely fits to a contact surface of the head.

In an embodiment, the liquid collecting device is made of silicone,polyvinyl chloride or a combination thereof.

In an embodiment, there are transition portions formed on the liquidguiding device. A first portion of the liquid guiding device is locatedbetween a front end of the liquid guiding device and the transitionportions and has a first inclination. A second portion of the liquidguiding device is located between a rear end of the liquid guidingdevice and the transition portions and has a second inclination greaterthan the first inclination.

In an embodiment, the liquid guiding device has a strip structure, andthe liquid recycling kit further includes an adjustable structureconnected to two ends of the inner wall of the liquid guiding device toadjust a size of the liquid guiding device.

In an embodiment, the adjustable structure is an adjustable securingstructure to secure the two ends of the inner wall of the liquid guidingdevice together.

In an embodiment, the adjustable securing structure includes a hook andloop fastener, an adjustable snap fastener, a buckle or a clasp.

In an embodiment, the adjustable structure is an elastic strip connectedto the two ends of the inner wall of the liquid guiding device.

In an embodiment, the elastic strip and the liquid guiding device areintegrally formed by double injection molding and have differentflexibilities.

In an embodiment, the liquid collecting device includes a hookingstructure. The hooking structure includes a holding plate, a first endof which is connected to the container wall; and a hooking plateconnected to a second end of the holding plate and extending toward thecollecting space of the liquid collecting device.

In an embodiment, an adjustable structure connected to two ends of theliquid guiding device is entirely located in a gap defined by theholding plate and the hooking plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects and advantages of the present disclosure will becomemore readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art afterreviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings,in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams illustrating the appearance andthe use of a liquid recycling kit for hair treatment according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the liquid guiding device ofthe liquid recycling kit along a cutting line A-A in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A-3D are schematic diagrams illustrating adjustable structure ofliquid guiding devices according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the liquid collecting deviceof the liquid recycling kit; and

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating that the liquidcollecting device is coupled to the liquid guiding device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present disclosure will now be described more specifically withreference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that thefollowing descriptions of preferred embodiments of this disclosure arepresented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It isnot intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise formdisclosed.

Please refer to FIGS. 1A and 1B, which are schematic diagramsillustrating the appearance and the use of a liquid recycling kit forhair treatment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Inthe specification, hair perming is taken as an example of the hairtreatment, and the liquid recycling kit is used for recycling the hairperm liquid. However, the liquid recycling kit could be used for otherhair treatment such as hair dyeing or hair bleaching according to theconcepts of the present disclosure to recycle specific chemicals, andsimilar description will not be given again.

The liquid recycling kit 10 includes a liquid guiding device 2 and aliquid collecting device 3. The liquid guiding device 2 and the liquidcollecting device 3 are detachably coupled to each other. After the hairperm liquid is applied to the hair wrapped on rollers, the hair permliquid which is not adhered to the hair would enter the liquid guidingdevice 2, as indicated by arrows 90 in FIG. 1A. The dripped hair permliquid is guided to at least one rear outlet 25 (two are shown in FIG.1A) of the liquid guiding device 2 by gravity, and then enters theliquid collecting device 3. Once the liquid collecting device 3 isfilled or collets a certain amount of the hair perm liquid 91, thecollected liquid is taken and then applied to the hair again forrecycling. These steps may be repeated several times during the perming.The hair perm liquid may be drawn from the liquid collecting device 3 bysuction, e.g. using a pipette. In another embodiment, at least twoliquid collecting devices 3 may be provided for replacement. Accordingto the concept of the present disclosure, the total usage amount of thehair perm liquid is reduced, and the hair perm liquid flowing out duringone hair perming process can be recycled, instead of being viewed aswaste immediately. Also, chemical pollution is reduced.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a cross-sectional view showing theliquid guiding device of the liquid recycling kit along a cutting lineA-A in FIG. 1A. The liquid guiding device 2 includes an inner wall 21 tobe in contact with the skin and an outer wall 22, both of whichcollectively define a guiding channel 23 having a top entrance 24 so asto face up to receive the hair perm liquid 91. The liquid guiding device2 including the inner wall 21 and the outer wall 22 has a U-shaped crosssection. When in use, the inner wall 21 closely fits the hair line(head) or the skin, and the rear outlets 25 are located at a lowestposition or a relatively low position compared with other portions ofthe liquid guiding device 2. The rear outlets 25 are arranged near thenape. Going through the process, the hair perm liquid 91 drips down orflows, along the direction 90, into the guiding channel 23 through thetop entrance 24, and then flows, along the guiding channel 23, downtoward the rear outlets 25. The present disclosure does not limit therelative height of the inner wall 21 to the outer wall 22. For example,the inner wall 21 is higher or lower than the outer wall 22, or both areof equal height. It is only required that the guiding channel 23 canhold enough liquid. The depth of the guiding channel 23 depends on theheights of the inner wall 21 and the outer wall 22. The liquid guidingdevice 2 has a main body made of a flexible and pliable material whichbends smoothly along the curvature of the contact surface and clings tothe contact surface. Thus, the liquid guiding device 2, at least theentire portion between two rear outlets 25, is in tight contact with andclosely fit the skin to prevent from forming a gap between the innerwall 21 and the skin where the hair perm liquid would flow downtherethrough. It is to be noted that the flexible and pliable materialshould be firm enough to make the outer wall 22 stand well to hold thedripped hair perm liquid without collapsing. In addition, the flexibleand pliable material should be waterproof and chemical resistant andshould not cause skin irritation. For example, the flexible and pliablematerial may be medical grade silicone, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or acombination thereof.

The liquid guiding device 2 in FIG. 1A is substantially a ring band.Another structure is shown in FIG. 1B wherein there are transitionportions 200 near ears. Hence, the liquid guiding device 2 has a firstportion and a second portion with different inclinations. For example,assuming that the reference surface is the horizontal surface, the firstportion 2001 is located between the front end of the liquid guidingdevice 2 and the transition portions 200 (i.e. between the forehead andthe ears) and has a less inclination; and the second portion 2002 islocated between the rear end of the liquid guiding device 2 and thetransition portions 200 (i.e. between the nape and the ears) and has agreater inclination. Such design conforms to the hair line better sothat the liquid guiding device 2 can closely fit the hair line or theskin to catch the dripped hair perm liquid. Further, the hair permliquid can flow toward the rear outlets 25 spontaneously and rapidly toassist the collection of the hair perm liquid. More transition portionsmay be provided to form body portions with different inclinations to fitspecial head.

The present disclosure further provides an adjustable liquid guidingdevice 2. An adjustable (securing) structure is formed at the rear endof the liquid guiding device 2. As shown in FIG. 3A, the liquid guidingdevice 2 has a strip structure having a first end 201 and a second end202. At the first end 201, a hook and loop fastener 411 and 412 ismounted on an outer surface of the inner wall 21 wherein one is a hookpiece and the other one is a loop piece. At the second end 202, aconnector ring 42 is connected to the inner wall 21. The first end 201of the inner wall 21 goes through the connector ring 42 and folds backto make the hook piece and the loop piece 411 and 412 face to and catcheach other at a specific relative position. Thus, the size of the ringband can be adjusted to fit any user. FIG. 3B illustrates anotherembodiment of an adjustable liquid guiding device 2, in which the liquidguiding device 2 has a strip structure having a first end 201 and asecond end 202. The adjustable (securing) structure includes a hook andloop fastener 431 and 432 whose hook piece and loop piece arerespectively mounted on an inner surface of the inner wall 21 at thefirst end 201 and an outer surface of the inner wall 21 at the secondend 202. The hook piece and the loop piece 431 and 432 are secured toeach other at a specific relative position to fit the user head. FIG. 3Cillustrates a further embodiment similar to the two embodiments in FIG.3A and FIG. 3B. The difference is that the adjustable (securing)structure is implemented by an adjustable snap fastener 44 including afemale piece (holes) 441 connected to the first end 201 and a male piece(posts) 442 connected to the second end 202. The relative position isadjustable by pressing a certain posts into corresponding holes to havethe adjustable (securing) structure with desired length. FIG. 3Dillustrates a further embodiment of an adjustable liquid guiding device2, in which the liquid guiding device 2 has a strip structure having afirst end 201 and a second end 202. The adjustable structure isimplemented by an elastic strip 45 made of fiber or rubber and connectedto two connector rings 451 fixed to two ends 21 and 202 of the liquidguiding device 2. The elastic strip 45 is stretchable and resilient soas to adjust the length of itself to fit the user head. Further, theliquid guiding device 2 can adopt any known adjustable securingstructure, e.g. buckle or clasp, but is not limited to the embodiments.The other known adjustable securing structure is not particularly givenherein, but the application or modification is included in the scope ofthe present disclosure.

In another embodiment, the adjustable securing structure and the liquidguiding device 2 may be integrally formed. As shown in FIG. 1A, theadjustable structure is an elastic strip 45 connected between two endsof the inner wall 21 near the rear outlets 25. The elastic strip 45 isalso made of a flexible and pliable material which bends smoothly alongthe curvature of the contact surface and clings to the contact surface.Thus, the elastic strip 45 can be in tight contact with and closely fitthe skin to prevent from forming a gap between the elastic strip 45 andthe skin where the hair perm liquid would flow down therethrough. Theflexible and pliable material is also waterproof and chemical resistantand should not cause skin irritation. For example, the flexible materialmay be medical grade silicone, polyvinyl chloride or a combinationthereof. The elastic strip 45 and the liquid guiding device 2 may bemanufactured by double injection molding to have distinct flexibilitiesand stretchabilities. Therefore, the elastic strip 45 has an adjustablelength based on the tension applied thereon.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a schematic diagram illustrating theliquid collecting device of the liquid recycling kit for hair treatment.The liquid collecting device 3 includes a container wall 33 definingtherein a collecting space 34 and a top collecting opening 35. Thecontainer wall 33 is connected to one end of a holding plate 302, andthe other end of the holding plate 302 is connected to a hooking plate301 which extends toward the collecting space 34. There is a gap 303between the holding plate 302 and the hooking plate 301, both of whichcollectively form a hooking structure (reverse U-shaped structure) 30.The hooking structure 30 is configured to hook on the adjustablestructure or the inner wall 21 wherein the adjustable structure or therear inner wall 21 is interposed into the gap 303. At this time, theholding plate 302 is disposed between the adjustable structure or therear inner wall 21 and the skin so that the adjustable structure or therear inner wall 21 could sustain against the hooking structure 30 of theliquid collecting device 3. Now, the liquid collecting device 3 and theliquid guiding device 2 are assembled together. To remove the liquidcollecting device 3, the hairstylist just slightly pulls the liquidguiding device 2 outward to create a gap for allowing the hook structure30 to move up and slide off. According to such design, the liquidcollecting device 3 could be coupled to the liquid guiding device 2,replaced or detached from the liquid guiding device 2 in a muchconvenient and easy manner. It is to be noted that in the assembledliquid recycling kit 10, the rear outlets 25 of the liquid guidingdevice 2 should be entirely located above the top collecting opening 35to well catch the dripped hair perm liquid and prevent the hair permliquid from flowing outside the collecting space 34. The hair permliquid which would drip along the nape could flow into the collectingspace 34 along the hooking plate 301. Since the holding plate 302 of theliquid collecting device 3 is in contact with the skin, the material ofthe liquid guiding device 2 described in the foregoing may be selectedas the material of the liquid collecting device 3, or other soft andflexible material which has no uncomfortable factor may be selected forthe liquid collecting device 3.

If the elastic strip 45 (FIG. 3D) is not made of waterproof material,the elastic strip 45 will absorb dripped hair perm liquid when they aretouching. It is possibly that the elastic strip 45 suffers damage morereadily or the absorbed liquid touches the skin. In this situation, thehooking plate 301 is designed to be extended to entirely cover andprotect the elastic strip 45 from the dripped hair perm liquid (FIG. 5Aand FIG. 5B). The hair perm liquid, instead of flowing along the nape,flows along the hooking plate 301 and into the collecting space 34directly without touching the elastic strip 45. In FIG. 5A, the hookingplate 301 is interposed between the rear inner wall 21 and the rearouter wall 22 of the liquid guiding device 2, and only the rear innerwall 21 is located in the gap 303 in the hooking structure 30. In FIG.5B, the hooking plate 301 covers both the rear inner wall 21 and therear outer wall 22 of the liquid guiding device 2, and both the rearinner wall 21 and the rear outer wall 22 are located in the gap 303 inthe hooking structure 30. Both arrangements are applicable in thepresent disclosure.

The liquid recycling device 10 of the present disclosure can effectivelyrecycle the hair treatment liquid and protects the skin and the clothesbelow the hair line from contact of the chemical liquid. The liquidcollecting device 3 could be easily taken off the liquid guiding device2 and the collected chemical liquid could be easily drawn and thenreused and reapplied on the hair immediately. It significantly reducesthe usage and waste amount of the chemical liquid for hair treatment.Hence, the provided liquid recycling kit is not only cost-saving forhair treatment, but also environment-friendly because of reduction ofenvironment impact, which bring high practicability.

While the disclosure has been described in terms of what is presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosedembodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A liquid recycling kit for hair treatment,comprising: a liquid guiding device to be worn on one head, comprisingan inner wall and an outer wall collectively defining a guiding channel,the liquid guiding device receiving a hair treatment liquid drippingfrom the head and guiding the received hair treatment liquid to at leastone rear outlet of the liquid guiding device by gravity along theguiding channel; and a liquid collecting device detachably coupled tothe liquid guiding device, comprising a container wall defining acollecting space located under the rear outlet of the liquid guidingdevice, the collecting space receiving the guided hair treatment liquidflowing out from the rear outlet of the liquid guiding device forrecycling the hair treatment liquid.
 2. The liquid recycling kitaccording to claim 1, wherein the liquid guiding device is made ofsilicone, polyvinyl chloride or a combination thereof, and the innerwall is in tight contact with and closely fits to a contact surface ofthe head.
 3. The liquid recycling kit according to claim 1, wherein theliquid collecting device is made of silicone, polyvinyl chloride or acombination thereof.
 4. The liquid recycling kit according to claim 1,wherein there are transition portions formed on the liquid guidingdevice, a first portion of the liquid guiding device being locatedbetween a front end of the liquid guiding device and the transitionportions and having a first inclination, a second portion of the liquidguiding device being located between a rear end of the liquid guidingdevice and the transition portions and having a second inclinationgreater than the first inclination.
 5. The liquid recycling kitaccording to claim 1, wherein the liquid guiding device has a stripstructure, and the liquid recycling kit further comprises an adjustablestructure connected to two ends of the inner wall of the liquid guidingdevice to adjust a size of the liquid guiding device.
 6. The liquidrecycling kit according to claim 5, wherein the adjustable structure isan adjustable securing structure to secure the two ends of the innerwall of the liquid guiding device together.
 7. The liquid recycling kitaccording to claim 6, wherein the adjustable securing structurecomprises a hook and loop fastener, an adjustable snap fastener, abuckle or a clasp.
 8. The liquid recycling kit according to claim 5,wherein the adjustable structure is an elastic strip connected to thetwo ends of the inner wall of the liquid guiding device.
 9. The liquidrecycling kit according to claim 8, wherein the elastic strip and theliquid guiding device are integrally formed by double injection moldingand have different flexibilities.
 10. The liquid recycling kit accordingto claim 1, wherein the liquid collecting device comprises a hookingstructure, comprising: a holding plate, a first end of which isconnected to the container wall; and a hooking plate connected to asecond end of the holding plate and extending toward the collectingspace of the liquid collecting device.
 11. The liquid recycling kitaccording to claim 10, wherein an adjustable structure connected to twoends of the liquid guiding device is entirely located in a gap definedby the holding plate and the hooking plate.